This invention pertains generally to provision of extended telephone services as defined above to computers linked to the PSTN through data communication networks external to the PSTN (e.g. the web, Internet, satellite radio networks, etc.), and particularly to delivery of such services only while the computer is connected to the PSTN through the external network and a telephone line which is shared for standard telephony (e.g. which is connectable to standard telephone instruments in the same premises as the computer). Certain of the extended telephone services considered herein enable an authorized user of the shared telephone line to learn of and react to standard telephone call activities waiting for connection to the shared line. Other extended telephone services considered herein enable the user to conduct telephone call activities through their computer and the shared line while the connection to the connection to the PSTN through the external network is active. Other extended telephone services enable the user to receive other telephone transmissions through their computers, the external network, and the shared line; e.g. transmissions of recorded information such as voice-mail messages and facsimile images. Extended telephone services presently considered may (but need not necessarily) comprise delivery of variations of standard telephone services (e.g. variations of standard call waiting and standard caller ID, as described below) through networks external to the PSTN (e.g. the web or Internet, satellite radio networks, etc).
In today's PSTN, end users of standard telephone services (as defined above) have limited options for varying and utilizing respective services.
Parameters relevant to delivery of a standard telephone service can be modified by an authorized end user, but delivery of the respective service invariably remains confined exclusively to the PSTN. For example, parameters of a standard service such as call forwarding can be modified to provide AIN intelligence of the PSTN with a series of telephone numbers within the PSTN that represent alternate forwarding destinations for forwarded calls directed to a telephone line associated with a given base account are to be routed, but connections to these alternate destinations would in today's technology be confined entirely to the PSTN, and forwarding of calls to these alternate destinations would have limited options for screening by intended recipients (such screening of rerouted calls being afforded by present extended services).
It has been suggested previously to use computers linked to AIN intelligence, through the Internet or web, to vary parameters of telephone services (reference the co-pending application by J.
M. Dunn et al, cross-references 3 and 4 above). But services associated with such varied parameters are generally standard services, rather than extended services within the present context of definition, and would be delivered with limited flexibility in respect to enabling intended recipients to screen and selectively accept telephone call activities associated with the services (e.g. a call forwarded by standard call forwarding procedures generally would not be screenable by the intended recipient to determine its importance or urgency).
A standard service like "call waiting" can be administered (enabled and disabled) for individual calls originating at a line associated with a base telephone account (e.g. by dialing or tone signalling the characters "*70" before entering other characters representing a called number. It has been suggested to allow for this type of service to be subject to administration through computers and networks external to the PSTN, such as the web or Internet, so that the term of enablement or disablement could be varied for more than a single call (refer to Dunn et al cross-reference 3 above), but without altering the essential context of delivery of such service; i.e. the service, when enabled, would be delivered exclusively through the PSTN with a standard form and context.
Our discovery in this regard is the recognition of the existence of (a previously unrecognized) need for delivery of extended telephone services to telephone system users, through communication networks external to the PSTN, wherein the users' connection to the external network is through a telephone line that is shared for presently standard telephone communication functions.
One example of a needed but hitherto unavailable extended service of this kind is an extended call waiting service to be described below, that is useful to indicate that telephone call activities (standard or non-standard) are currently waiting for connection to the shared telephone line while the same line is actively connected to the PSTN via the external network (e.g. while a computer is using the shared line to access the web and a PSTN server interfacing to the web).
Another example of a needed but hitherto unavailable extended telephone service of this kind is an extended caller ID service to be described that is useful to transmit indications of waiting call origins through the external network connection occupying the shared line, and is thereby useful to enable recipients of the indication to evaluate the importance or urgency of waiting call activities without requiring the connection to the external network to be interrupted or terminated.
Another example of a needed but hitherto unavailable extended service is an extended call transfer service for delivering telephone call activities originating within the PSTN directly to a computer, via an external network such as the web or Internet and a shared telephone line sustaining the external connection, in a form useful by both the computer and the external network, and for providing such delivery without requiring interruption or severance of the connection between the computer and the respective external network.
Another example of a needed but hitherto unavailable extended service is an extended voice-mail service useful for delivering voice-mail messages recorded within the PSTN to a computer, via an external network and shared telephone line, in a form which doesn't require interruption or severance of the connection between the computer and external network.
Another example of a needed but hitherto unavailable extended service is an extended fax transfer service useful for transmitting images generated by standard facsimile equipment through the PSTN and external network to a computer connected to the external network through a shared line.
Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, from these examples, and from the descriptions to follow that there are many other existing or potentially useful telephone services that could be advantageously extended in this manner.